


Primary Protocols: Axl

by NeoQwerty



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Axl Hears Voices In His Head, Axl's Backstory, Gen, Post-Rockman X7 | Mega Man X7, Red Alert Is Not Quite Dead, Reploid Headcanons in End Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoQwerty/pseuds/NeoQwerty
Summary: A 'loid's primary protocols dictate who they are at their root, and their personality grows from there.Axl's never told anyone what his protocols are, hiding them away, and maybe for a good reason.He's not sure anyone would trust him if they knew what's in him, just barely legible through corruption.
Kudos: 4





	Primary Protocols: Axl

Axl is a mystery on par with Gate's creations; while the data on his Chameleon Chip can mostly be read, his own blueprints are as obfuscated and protected from scans as X and Zero, standing up against all attempts at scanning by current cutting-edge technology. His physical components are at least mostly easy to replace, though they've had to call in X and Alia more than once when the subsystems involved with his DNA-Trans have been damaged and needed temporary patching until his nanobots made proper self-repairs.

_(Berkana collected and analyzed enough data from both X and Zero to make her testing prototype a strong, resourceful Reploid, blending the best of X's adaptability and Zero's self-regeneration into a single design worthy of the first in an entire line of Soul Erasers.)_

No one knows what his primary protocols are, and Axl has gradually moved from a half-lie to deflection when the subject comes up. With Red Alert and at first during his arrest, he'd said his original data was scrambled beyond recovery. Over time, it became, "I don't wanna talk about it, I dunno, okay?" and then, "Why d'you wanna know? I'm not _that_ special."

How does he even explain how deeply some DNA-Data burns itself into him? How some of the ghosts leave deep gouges into his blank slate, marks that don't go away even if he was to purge their origin?

_(Vile was always defective, his electronic brain wired flawedly, some areas missing connections due to an ill-thought-out redesign for better warfare that was not caught in time. Areas that would have mutated and evolved in burn-in remained static, his empathy close to non-existent. The more people talked about X, the more Vile burned to prove he was just as good if not better.)_

**Ą̸̐s̷s̴i̶m̸i̴l̵ate str̸̪̈́ong DN̸A̷-̸S̶oư̷̳l̸̝͘s.**

**Prove X̴ is obsolete.**

**Kill Sigma. Over and̶͈̿ _over an̴̮̂d OV̶̡̏ER M̶̬̰͔͖͓̑̌̄͜A̷̢̪͈͉̎̈́̐͒͘͜K̸̨̳̽͌Ẽ̷̢͎̻̥͈̯̓́̓̒͆ ̸̨̡̛̺̜̓͒̈́H̶̢̗̗͖̞̬̐͐͌̉̃͜I̶̯̟̺̓̕M̵͖͕̩̙͊̈́͗͐̿̚ ̷̢͇͕̎P̴̢̫̹̦̤͗̍̎̍̈́A̸̞̥͉̤̔̐̌Ȳ̷̢̜̿͝ A̶͉͛͂̒̈́̀͝͝V̵̢̧̛̫̘̪̩͎̯͔̂͗̀̐̀͛̓̔̕͠E̸̡̱̤̪̻͖̜̭̰̅̇̈́̇͛̚͝N̴̢̬̼̗͎̤̣̒̌͒͐̾̈́̔̚G̶̻̼̫̲̋̽̈́̄͠É̷̛̤͚̰͈̤͐̈̈̽͠͠ ̸̨̫͖̙̟̺͕̮̏̈́͋͊Ư̵̡̩͚̙̺̰̓̄̉́̕̚͜Ş̶̢̦̫̼̜̍̐́̃̄͛ͅ_**

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon context:
> 
> Axl was made by Berkana as a Soul Eraser prototype (His serial ID, when it wasn't corrupted, was SEA-001, Soul Eraser Array (the name references the Chameleon Chip hardware's true name).) and the blueprints and code were found by the Federation during X and Zero's mission against the Soul Erasers.
> 
> The testing phase of SEA-001 went catastrophically wrong when they loaded Vile's DNA-Data as the first test sample, resulting in the destruction and cover-up of the Federation facility that SEA-001 destroyed. Red, Flame Hyenard and Snipe Anteater found the heavily corrupted and almost entirely-wiped SEA-001, whose serial ID was left with just "A- 1" readable.
> 
> "Burn-in" is the term in a Reploid that's equivalent to childhood/teenagehood; the point where a Reploid's personality, morality, ethics, and mental stability come together. X has undergone 30+ years of burn-in. Originally, Reploids weren't given burn-in periods at all and it led to an abysmally high number of Reploids who went Maverick of their own will on top of the ones who had physical design flaws. 
> 
> The original waves of Mavericks that led to the formation of the Maverick Hunters led to Hunters going Maverick due to a digital version of PTSD led to imposing a 4-year mandatory burn-in in civilian jobs before allowing a Reploid to shift to a combat or medical job. That burn-in period was lowered to 2-year by the Federation after Doctor Cain's death, on pretext that they needed more new Reploids (it was for financial profit).
> 
> Most Reploids (and the Hunters) still consider the original 4-year burn-in length to make a Reploid "legal" as far as informed consent and relationships go. Axl has a "simulated burn-in", which is unique to Chameleon/Copy Chip Reploids-- he inherited his mental development from the first DNA-Data profile that he loaded, and in his case it was Vile's data shortly before Sigma's coup. For legal purposes, though, a simulated burn-in doesn't count, and Axl is 6 months into burn-in as of X7.
> 
> Burn-in also disregards AI age being modeled: a 15 years old and a 25 years old AI both still need a minimum of 2 years to get enough sense of self and maturity to handle "adult" responsibilities. Once burn-in happens, AI age works mostly the same way it would with humans; if a 30-AI-years Reploid gets into a relationship with a 14-AI-years Reploid, that's _baaaaaad_. And if you get in a relationship with a child Reploid, you're going to end up doxxed and get borderline-Maverick vigilantes coming over.
> 
> (Yes, this makes any fics I make where Axl isn't specifically post-X8 or Command Mission underage, and yes, I'm tagging it that way.)


End file.
